The secret of not dripping a single drop is to allow the filter cap to 'gulp' air from the back (facing the engine, which sits higher) for a few seconds. That allows the oil to flow down the sump. If you pull the cap too soon, that's when you make a mess. And it's not easy to clean freaking oil from the belt pulleys. And yes, I learned the hard way too .

Haha... I had enough lack of faith to have a shop towel stuffed between the housing and the hose in front of it so it wasn't a big deal. I actually spilled more oil pouring from the unusually-shaped TWS bottles at first. But hey, I needed to clean off some gunk that had accumulated anyway.

Maybe now that I've got it figured out I'll spend more time on the next change to look around at the other stuff under the car... for example, I've discovered that my front "felt" things are still intact despite a few steep driveways.